Unexpected Twist
by CastleObsessed15
Summary: Castle and Beckett are well into their relationship. Things have been going great, and they have finally moved in together. What happens when a murder case disrupts the lives of the partners in crime? Will they be able to handle this kind of event?
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

It's another normal day at the twelfth precinct. The team just wrapped up the case two days earlier. It had been a pretty tricky case. Javi, Ryan, and Beckett are sitting at their desks doing paperwork while Castle is playing Angry Birds on his phone.

He wordlessly gets up and heads into the break room. A few minutes later he comes back with two steaming cups of coffee in his hands. Kate looks up from her paperwork and can't help but let a smile spread across her face.

To Castle and Beckett, coffee isn't just coffee, it's so much more. It represents how much they love each other. It shows that they will always be there for one another no matter what. Castle loves brining Kate coffee just to see that little smile on her face.

As he hands her the cup of coffee, their hands touch. They hold the contact for a little longer then they probably should, but they can't help it.

At work, they aren't supposed to show any physical contact. They can't let the fact that they are more than partners get in the way of their work. A few months ago Gates had found out about the relationship. To their surprise, she had allowed them to remain partners at the precinct. Gates had obviously warmed up to Castle, especially after noticing how much the closure rate had gone up since he started at the precinct. With being there for five years now, everyone considered him a part of the team. Beckett and Castle were partners just as much as Esposito and Ryan were. The only difference was that they were partners in all aspects of the word.

Gates had told the pair that as long as they kept their private and professionals affairs separate, there would be no problems. Beckett and Castle found it harder than they expected. Castle always found himself wanting to hold Kate's hand when she was sitting at her desk, frustrated over a case. He wanted to give her a hug when she was tired and wanted to go home. There were also those moments when he found Kate completely hot, such as when she is interrogating a suspect. He just wants to go up and kiss her, and it takes all his might not to. Castle isn't the only one who wants the physical contact though. Beckett also finds herself wanting that physical contact with him. She wants to run her fingers through his hair when he gets that adorable grin on his face. Castle's eyes just make her melt and get butterflies in her stomach. Kate has a hard time resisting contact as much as Castle. Knowing that they have to hold back their feelings, they settle for other things. Something as simple as a brush over each other's hand, a stolen glance across the room, or the bumping of shoulders as they walk is a way they can sneak their relationship in. But coffee…that is one thing they can give each other and show how much they really care without actually saying it.

It's close to 9 o'clock at the precinct as the team is just about done with their paperwork. At 8:57 a.m. the phone on the desk rings twice before the detective answers. "Beckett." She says in a monotone voice. "Alright, thanks." She replies before hanging up the phone. "We got a body, 47th and Lex."

The teams stands up, grabbing their jackets, and head towards the elevator.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"Hey Lanie, what do we got?" Beckett says, crouching down next to the M.E. to get a better look.

"Two GSW's to the chest and abdomen. Also, several contusions on the face, arms, torso, and legs."

"So she fought back?" Castle asks coming up next to the two women.

"Looks to be that way. I'll see if I can get any DNA or fibers from her attacker back at the morgue."

"Alright, thanks Lanie."

"Yo Beckett." Esposito says motioning her over.

"What do we got Javi?"

"The vic is thirty-four year old Megan Breslin. She lives here with her daughter, Elizabeth."

"Where's the daughter now?"

"She's still at a sleepover from last night." Ryan says, walking up to join the conversation.

"How old is the daughter?" Castle says looking back over to the vic.

"Six." Esposito replies with a sad tone.

"Father?" Beckett asks looking to Javi and Ryan.

"Don't know. There's no father listed on the birth certificate, and apparently she doesn't have a boyfriend either." Ryan replies after looking at his notepad.

"Does the vic have any other family?"

"No. She's any only child and her parents died in a car crash eight years ago."

"Damn. Alright, well Castle and I are going to head back to the precinct. You guys canvas the area and see if the neighbors heard or saw anything. See if this building or nearby ones have security cameras."

"You got it boss." Ryan says before he and Epso head out of the apartment.

"You okay Castle?" Kate asks while they're driving back to the precinct. "Castle?"

"What? Oh, sorry."

"I asked if you were ok." She says, looking concerned.

"Oh yeah, I'm fine. Just thinking…" he says before looking back out the window.

"A penny for your thoughts." She says giving him a small grin.

"Well…I was just thinking about that little girl. She's only six years old, and now she has no family. She's gonna be put into some foster care system and left to fend for herself." Castle states with a mixture of sadness and a little bit of anger.

"I know, but it's gonna be okay. I'm sure that there is a loving family willing to take her in." she says before putting a hand on his thigh.

Castle looks over and gives her a smile. A few seconds later they arrive at the precinct. Kate unbuckles her seatbelt and looks over to Castle with a smile. He leans over and briefly kisses her on the lips.

"Thank you." He whispers into her ear before giving her another kiss on the cheek.

"Always." She says before grabbing Castle's hand and giving it a squeeze.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Beckett and the boys are back at the precinct trying to get more info on the vic. Castle and Kate are busy setting up the murder board while the boys are looking through financials and phone records.

"Javi, Ryan, you guys find anything yet?" Beckett says sitting back down at her desk.

"Nah, nothing looks out of the ordinary. We got deposits and withdrawals, but nothing looks suspicious." Esposito says continuing to look at her bank records.

"Same here. Her cell records don't show much other than her calls to work and her daughter's daycare." Ryan says with a slightly disappointed tone.

"Alright. Did tech send over the video from the security cams across the street yet?"

"No, they're still processing them. It could be a couple hours yet. CSU said the same thing." Ryan says to the somewhat frustrated Beckett.

After three hours of looking through records and coming up with almost nothing, Beckett gets a call.

"Beckett." She says after picking up on the second ring. "Alright, thanks Lanie. We'll be down in a bit."

She hangs the phone back up as the men wait for her to talk.

"Lanie's got stuff on the vic for us down at the morgue. Castle and I are gonna check it out, you two see if tech has got the camera footage yet."

"You got it boss." Ryan says, both men nodding.

The elevator ride down to the morgue is quiet. Castle has his head down, looking at the floor. For over three hours now, he's barely spoken. Beckett is getting a little worried, especially with how he was at the crime since and on the drive back to the precinct. Kate hits the stop button on the elevator so she can have a minute with him before they talk to Lanie.

"Castle, are you ok?" she asks. He doesn't reply and continues to look at the floor.

"Hey." She says calmly, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Talk to me Castle, please."

He slowly looks up to her and she sees the hurt in his eyes. Those bright, blue, vibrant eyes she has come to know and love are now dim, and slightly gloomy. She hates to see him like this. Kate begins to carefully rub her hand up and down the top of his arm. Castle sighs before speaking.

"It's just…this little girl. I keep thinking of Alexis and what would happen if she were all alone…if anything would have ever happened to me. She has no family left, they're all gone. What is she supposed to do now? This little girl is only six years old, not even old enough to understand what's going on. Someone took this mom away from her little girl. I just want to find who did this and put him behind bars. I can't even think about what's gonna happen with this little girl….where she's gonna go, or who she's gonna end up with."

Kate is listening to him the whole time, continuing to rub his arm. There is a sad look on her face as she sees the pain Castle is feeling over this. She wants to make all that pain disappear, but she knows that at least until this case is solved, it will probably still be there.

"I know Castle. I know it's hard, but we are going to do everything we can to get justice for Megan and her daughter."

He looks down at the ground again.

"Come here." She says, pulling his arm. Kate pulls him into a hug, slowly running one of her hands through his hair, the other one wrapped around his neck. He wraps both his arms around her, one around her waist, and the other on the middle of her back.

They stay wrapped in each other's arm for over a minute before he lets out a sigh and pulls back. Castle gives her a little smile, and she can't help but smile back. Kate takes her hand and puts it on his cheek. She leans in to give him a small, but passionate kiss before pulling away. She silently hits the stop button again to make the elevator move. The rest of the short ride down is silent, but there aren't any needs for words.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"Hey Lanie, what do you got?" Beckett says as she and Castle walk over to the M.E. who is hovering over the vic.

"I've ruled time of death as somewhere between ten and midnight. I found black fibers on her clothing. Most likely it's from a shirt or sweatshirt, probably one that the killer was wearing. Even though the vic fought back, there wasn't any DNA underneath her fingernails. My guess is the killer was covered up enough, probably with the black fabric, that she couldn't hurt him much."

Just as Lanie finished talking, Kate's phone rang.

"Beckett." She says while the man on the other sides gives her the information. "Alright, thanks Espo."

"They found the ex-boyfriend apparently."

"Ex?"

"Yeah, Espo told me that they broke up…a week ago." Beckett says raising her eyebrows slightly.

"A week huh. I wonder what that was all about. Maybe we should go give this guy a visit."

"Before you guys go, I have one more thing. Inside her jeans pocket I found a crumpled piece of paper." Lanie said before handing Beckett the evidence bag containing the item.

"6/28 12" Castle said reading the writing on the small piece of paper. "So she was planning on meeting somebody?"

"Looks like it. The only problem is that this is a date and time, but we don't have a place. Maybe the boys can find something at her apartment that will tell us who and where she was going to meet."

"Thanks Lanie, let us know if anything else turns up."

"You got it girl." She says giving the detective a small grin. "See ya later writer-boy."

"Bye Lanie." Castle says as both he and Kate head back to the elevator.

"Boys, what do we got?" Beckett says as she enters the precinct.

"Megan's ex-boyfriend is a Matthew Pearson. His record is clean, but we're bringing him in now." Ryan says looking up from the files on his desk.

"Do we know why the pair broke up a week ago?"

"No, but apparently they had a falling out. We talked to one of the neighbors and she said that two or three times this past few weeks she's heard yelling coming from the apartment."

"Did she hear anything this past week?"

"No, she said the last time she heard the yelling was two weeks ago. The sound was too muffled to tell what the fighting was about, but she said it got pretty heated."

"How long were the two of them dating?"

"We're not exactly sure. We don't really have much on this guy or their relationship. Hopefully we'll be able the put the pieces together more once he arrives."

"Alright, well this guy is our number one and only suspect. We don't want him lawyering up if we can help it. You guys go back to Megan's apartment and see if you can find anything else having to do with the boyfriend. Lanie found a piece of paper in the vic's jeans with a date and time, 6/28 12. We don't have a where or who though. See if she keeps a calendar, date book, or anything that will help us know what that event is. Castle and I will talk to the ex-boyfriend once he comes in."

"You got it boss." Espo says before the boys head back to the apartment.

A half an hour later, the elevator door to the precinct dings. Beckett looks up to find a man walking into the precinct. She stands up to walk over to him.

"Mr. Pearson?"

"Yes, that's me. Please, call me Matt. What can I do for you? I got a call about my ex, Megan. Is she ok?"

"Matt, why don't we go talk in private." Beckett says gesturing to an empty break room.

The three sit down and get settled. Matt is the first one to speak up.

"Is Megan ok? What happened? I got a call telling me to come down to the precinct."

"Matt, I am sorry to tell you this but Megan is dead. She was murdered in her apartment last night."

"M-murdered? Oh my god…w-what….w-who…" he trailed off, looking uncertainly between Castle and Beckett.

"I am sorry for your loss. We are trying to find whoever did this to Megan. Would it be alright if we asked you some questions?"

"Of course, I'll do what I can to help."

"Thank you. First of all, I understand that you and Megan recently broke up, can I ask why?"

"Things just weren't working out I guess. We both had kind of crazy schedules, and we didn't get to see each other a whole lot lately."

"How long had you too dated?"

"Over a year. We met while she was ice skating with her daughter in Central Park…Oh my god, is Lily okay?"

"Lily is fine, she was at a sleepover when it happened. She is still there now."

He let out a sigh of relief before Beckett continued.

"I'm sorry to have to ask you this, but where were you last night between 10 p.m. and midnight?"

"I was at the office working late."

"Alright. Did you notice anything suspicious these past few weeks? Did Megan say anthing to you about someone threatening her, or her being worried about anything?"

"Well I haven't talked to her since we broke up last week. Before that, she didn't really mention anything. She did seem stressed though. Megan wouldn't tell me what is was about, but I knew it was bothering her. She'd been staying a little later than normal at the office lately. I figured she had just been swamped with work. I'd call her and ask her if she wanted to meet me at my place or go out to eat with me and Lily, but she said she was too busy or too tired. We have both been busy so I didn't think anything of it."

"Alright, thank you Matt. Here's my card. If you think of anything else, give me a call. I'll let you know if we find anything else."

"Thank you detective." Matt says before walking out of the room and heading back towards the elevators.

"Does that guy seem like our killer to you?" Castle says, coming to stand next to Beckett.

"I don't know. He seemed genuinely concerned, even about Lily. We need to find out more about this guy. I also want to know what had Megan so worked up these past few weeks. Hopefully the boys will find something useful at her apartment."


End file.
